(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuse, which breaks a power circuit by fusing in response to an overcurrent, and to a power circuit breaker (service plug) including such a fuse.
(2) Description of the Related Art
For example, as for an electric vehicle, because the capacitance of an electric power source, which is a battery, is larger than that of a normal gasoline engine vehicle, a power circuit is opened by a power circuit breaker so as to secure the safety of maintenance work when an electric system of the electric vehicle is being checked and maintained. FIG. 8 shows an example of such a conventional power circuit breaker (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open H 10-83753).
A power circuit breaker 101 shown in FIG. 8 includes a circuit receiver 102 having female terminals 120 connected to an end part of an opened power circuit and a plug body 103 which electrically connects the female terminals 120 to each other. The plug body 103 includes a pair of male terminals 130 to be fit to the female terminals 120 and a fuse 140 arranged between the pair of the male terminals 130.
The fuse 140 includes a fuse element received in a housing 141 made of synthetic resin and a pair of tab-shaped terminals 142, one end of which is connected to the fuse element and another end of which projects outside of the housing 141. As shown in FIG. 9, the pair of the male terminals 130 is inserted in through holes formed at the other end of the tab-shaped terminals 142 and nuts 143 are screwed into the respective male terminals 130, so that the fuse 140 is unified with the pair of the male terminals 130.
The plug body 103 and the circuit receiver 102 are fit to each other so that the female terminals 120 are fit to the respective male terminals 130, thereby the power circuit breaker 101 closes the power circuit. The power circuit breaker 101 opens the power circuit by removing these fitting. When an overcurrent flows in the closed power circuit, the power circuit is electrically broken by fusing the fuse element of the fuse 140.
However, the power circuit breaker 101 described above has a problem in that it requires a structure for fixing the pair of the male terminals 130 and the tab-shaped terminals 142 of the fuse 140 as wall as a structure for fixing the pair of the male terminals 130 unified with the fuse 140 to the plug body 103, causing an increase in the number of parts and in the number of man-hours for assembling.